Bill cutting customers' savings from solar advances in Florida

Florida senators on a panel were apprehensive but voted 6-2 to advance SB 1024, a bill intended to restrict the expansion of rooftop solar in Florida.

• SB 1024 would lower utility savings for Floridians using rooftop solar panels by reducing how much utilities pay solar users to buy back their excess energy.

Between the lines: At least two senators who voted yes said they would vote no at full vote unless changes were made to the proposed bill to protect grandfathered-in solar customers and provide more solar access to low-income Floridians, Florida Politics reported.

By the numbers: Only about 90,000 of the state's 8.5 million customers sell excess energy back to the electrical grid, but the arrangement has driven significant rooftop solar expansion, the Times/Herald reports.

The rub: The Miami Herald's Mary Ellen Klas reports that Florida Power & Light, the nation's largest power company, wrote the legislation to stifle solar growth before giving big political donations to the bill's eventual sponsors.

The other side: So incensed was FP&L that they launched a website attacking Klas' reporting and the Miami Herald for refusing to run the company's full rebuttal.